Tyler and I were in Target and I saw the original It for $5 so I thought, why not do a comparison between this and the new one (that's tomorrow's entry) since I haven't seen the 1990 one since I was a kid.Seven children in Derry, Maine are terrorized and forced to confront an evil entity calling itself Pennywise the Dancing Clown (Tim Curry). They believe they have killed it but swear a pact amongst themselves that if it should ever return, they would come back to Derry and finish the job. Thirty years later, a series of child murders begins again and the local librarian (Tim Reid) calls his six friends back to fulfill their oath.
Story time! I was around 8 when this came on TV. My mom had read the book and found it terrifying (side note: I thought she had read it as a teen but that book was published in 1986, when I was four, which makes my mom a giant pansy) so I was "not allowed" to watch it but I was allowed to sit in the living room as long as I kept my back to the TV. We had a window behind the couch which afforded a perfect reflection of the TV screen which my parents either forgot/didn't think about or knew and just wanted me to punish myself. Regardless of whether it was sadism or neglect, I was straight-up paralyzed by fear for weeks afterwards and couldn't go near any source of water without suffering a panic attack.
The first half of the miniseries features Reid's character calling up each member of the Losers' Club and their individual memories of that summer, creating a patchwork that eventually tells the entire story of their confrontation with Pennywise. The second half is the adults reminiscing and dithering back and forth about whether or not to make a second attempt. It absolutely squanders all of the terror and suspense of the first half and features a pathetic stop-motion spider-crab in place of Curry's evil clown. Super lame. If I were you, I'd just pretend the first half is the only part that exists.
Also, adult Bev (Annette O'Toole) is extremely problematic. She is shown coming from an abusive household only to have an abusive relationship as an adult, which okay, fine, points to lingering trauma but it's still super gross to actively show women being slapped around on television. There's also the implication that she has slept with everyone (except Eddie (Dennis Christopher) who confesses he's still a virgin just before the final battle in a bizarre and unnecessary scene) in the Club at one point or another. The book is infamously known for having a child orgy after the battle with Pennywise. Obviously no one s going to show that in a made-for-TV movie or ever, hopefully, but Bev's interactions with the adult Losers heavily imply that sequence of events. While I'm thinking about female representation, Bill's wife, Audra (Olivia Hussey), literally only exists to be sexually harassed/threatened by her producer and then a damsel in distress to motivate her husband. I know this was 1990 and gender politics weren't where they are now but come on.
Let's face it, the only reason to watch this is Tim Curry, who is great. Every scene that doesn't have him in it is kind of garbage. It was nice to see John Ritter and Harry Anderson again and young Seth Green is always a delight but this is the Pennywise show.
Pumpkin rating: 2.5/5
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